Glitter Disaster

McEwen Studio (USA)

Galata Greek Primary School

“You are there, your body and the stuff you carry around (cellphone, glasses, keys), suspended in… the layers of urban spaces and extra-planetary wave-modulations implied by even these mundane objects hanging off you, clipped, strapped, or otherwise attached to you. The important part is you – suspended in endless layers of neglect. Wait, no, endless layers of design… Rub this between your toes, the inside of your forearms, or place a dab on your tongue. Design yourself with yet another substance, to mediate the layers of neglect you find yourself within, suspended. This proposal for a glitter disaster intersects… with dancing, nightlife, and parties… Much of the development patterns in the world seem driven by… substances that planning and architecture ignore or treat as equivalent — narcotics, herbicides, dust particles, weird smells, sewage, etc.” –MMcE

The Glitter Disaster room by Chicago based architect Mitch McEwen engages with forces that structure cities yet are systematically ignored by urban theorists. The project draws on the spaces of nightlife where all the “schizoprehnias” of development, land use, cultures, class conflict and multiple selves are acted out.  It also points to the key role of illicit or unseen chemicals and smells that constantly move through cities, both constructing and dissolving the urban and social fabric.